Innovators make products that push people to change their behavior. Often, this change happens fluidly. Skilled innovators deliver technologies so alluring — so sexy — that people want to adapt their behaviors so they can enjoy them.

But every now and then, innovators ask too much behavioral change of people too quickly, and people balk. When they balk, they often demand their old technology back. They buy laptops that do have USB ports and smartphones with antennae that don’t short circuit when you hold the phones the “wrong” way.

The leadership lesson here for us all? If, as a precondition to engagement, you require a behavioral change that people aren’t ready for, you’re setting yourself up for a backlash. This holds true for all of your projects with all of your stakeholders.

In the nearly three decades I’ve been supporting leaders to manage change, the lion’s share of my work has been coaching leaders to lay a foundation of modeling, understanding and readiness for the change they desire to lead.

Here is how I do that and how you can do it for yourself and your team or company:

1. Understand the nuances of your shared values.

How people deal with change is determined by their values: things they believe in deeply and strongly, like integrity, excellence, respect, compassion and enjoying life. But though values may seem straightforward, they’re not. They’re nuanced. And, they impact one another.

Take the values driving Apple’s customers, for example. People who buy Apple’s products value innovation. But, they are also busy people who want to put their new Apple toy to use right away. So, there is a threshold to how innovative customers want their Apple products to be. Innovation must be balanced with a reasonable learning curve.

When you understand the intersection of people’s opposing values, you can better anticipate how much change you can ask of them.

For example, your people may be willing to sacrifice time with their families to hammer out an important deliverable for you. But, how much time? And for how long? You must consider what it looks like for people to hold competing values – say, excellence and enjoying life — in real terms. It can be done (and done well) but you must be intentional about managing that balance as change unfolds.

When you understand how your organizational values may push up against one another or compete with one another, you can explore the interplay of those values. Then you can define the ground rules by which you and your stakeholders can move through change together.

2. Identify and support a "canary in the coal mine.”

“Nobody seems to have tested it.” That’s the standard observation when analysts weigh in on an innovators’ product missteps.

Now, ask yourself, could someone say the same thing about your change initiative?

You can test your management of change before you actually put it to use. It takes time, but it can be done. The first part is to explore your organizational values and how they have the potential to both complement and clash with each other. I call this your organization’s value system.

The second part is to identify and support what I call a “canary in the coal mine.” This truth-teller is typically a person or persons who are empowered to speak up about any potential breakdowns of your organization’s value system.

This breakdown could happen when people are being asked to adapt to change too quickly — sacrificing excellence for productivity. Or it could happen when they are being pressured to “be a team player” and not speak up about a teammate’s poor behavior —sacrificing authenticity for harmony.

Create a champion (or a team of champions) not just for your organization’s shared values, but also for its value system. Your value system is the lifeblood of your culture. Keep yourself informed about how change is infringing upon this system and your culture.

3. Embrace moving slow to move fast.

Creating a values-aligned culture that can support people to manage change takes time, effort and commitment. Invest in that work. Embrace moving more slowly than you’d like today so you can move more quickly than you imagined later on.

Besides, values work is intriguing. Co-creating shared values and aligned behaviors taps into the very ideals that shape who people are, what they want to contribute, and how they can do their best – in or out of the workplace.

In this process, you gain amazing insight into what matters most to your people and to you.